While the Vikings decision to waive Donovan McNabb came as a bit of a surprise, it’s what Donovan McNabb wanted. And after talking it over with coach Leslie Frazier, both sides agreed it was best for both parties to move in different directions.

With Christian Ponder taking over the starting quarterback role last month, McNabb took a seat on the bench and thought about the next step in his career. And ultimately he asked for his release so he could move onto the next phase of it.

“I felt the direction in the way that things were going, it was best for Christian and Joe (Webb) to continue developing to run the offense,” McNabb said on ESPN Thursday evening. “I just wanted to be the guy who tried to add that confidence or that spiritual advice. But I thought the best move for me at this particular point was to move on, clear my head and see what’s next.”

So, he’s not going to retire voluntarily, though it seems there’s a good chance nobody will claim him off the waiver wire. And if nobody wants to sign him, he’ll move on to something else.

“There’s always plan B, but I’m not focused on that right now,” McNabb said. “Clearing the mind and getting the body back where it needs to be is the most important thing. If anything were to happen, I have a career I can look back on and be very excited about it.”

The Bears obviously need some help at the quarterback spot, and though the Texans do as well, it sounds like Houston is not interested in McNabb’s services. Why should a GM look seriously at McNabb, though?

Well, let McNabb tell you.

“You bring a veteran who has great experience to the ball club,” he said. “Athletic ability, a guy who’s not a locker room cancer, a great work ethic and only wants to win. I’m a winner and I’ve proven that.

“Taking time is very important, although I’ve spent enough time resting so to speak in these last couple weeks. I am pretty fresh. But the thing about it is you have to focus your mind on being the guy back out there again.”

Whether anybody puts him in that position again, we’ll have to wait and see.

But considering McNabb is due to make $12.5 million this season, the terms of McNabb’s contract would have to be restructured in order for the Vikings to accept the deal. Especially since, at one point last season, Washington coach Mike Shanahan thought Rex Grossman should be in the game to lead a last-minute drive instead of McNabb.

So, why do it? Well, as ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert writes, the deal only makes sense if McNabb comes into Minnesota with the understanding that he’d be Ponder’s backup. Otherwise, Seifert writes, “if Ponder isn't ready in Week 1, you wonder if someone like Joe Webb or Tyler Thigpen couldn't hold down the fort until he is. Isn't that a smarter long-term move than trading for a declining player who can't start for a team that plans to have Rex Grossman and John Beck compete for the job this summer? The Vikings drafted Ponder to end their cycle of Band-Aid solutions at quarterback, not to extend it.”

Considering the Redskins gave up two draft picks to get McNabb from the Eagles before the 2010 season, McNabb’s decline in value is pretty startling.

After I point you in the direction of this Scout.com article, please don’t get scared. As far as we know, Brett Favre doesn’t have any plans to return for another season (his brother has already opined that he thinks there’s a 99 percent chance Favre will stay retired).

BUT …

Whenever Favre is in the news, the questions will always surface.

That said, Favre has been working with (non-retired) Vikings QB Joe Webb in Hattiesburg, Miss., for the “past few weeks.” Again, don’t be frightened. We don’t think Favre is gearing up for another comeback; we’re pretty sure he’s just helping out an old teammate.

“It’s great to have a person like that as my contact,” Webb said. “He can still sling it.”

BUT …

As Scout writes:

"While conspiracy theorists may point to the meeting as an opportunity for Favre to see the new Vikings playbook -- Webb may have brought one with him to Hattiesburg -- but, for the rest of us, it looks like a win-win situation for two guys from two different generations giving back something to the other."

Unless, of course, both guys end up going for the same thing -- ahem, the Vikings starting QB job. Which would, of course, be a scary proposition.

The market for Donovan McNabb appears to be shrinking. Even after the Vikings selected quarterback Christian Ponder 12th overall in the April draft, conventional wisdom figured Minnesota would acquire a veteran quarterback to handle the starting duties for the upcoming season and serve as a bridge to the Ponder era.

But there will be plenty of veteran QBs looking for new homes once the lockout ends. It's just that whoever lands the gig probably won't be the starter for the entire season. At least that's what Mike Wobschall of Vikings.com thinks. In response to a question about whether Ponder or QB Joe Webb would play more in 2011, Wobschall offered this:

"It’s far too early to formulate an opinion on which guy should be the starting QB for the Vikings in 2011, but I think the goal is for either Ponder or Webb to end up starting games this year, not a veteran. Any veteran the Vikings add will be brought in to help mentor the young QBs and literally teach them how to practice and how to play the position in the NFL."

But this isn't the first time we've heard this. Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said in May that "ideally, I'd like for [Ponder] to be ready to go when we play San Diego (on Sept. 11). … That would be the ideal situation -- we've got our Matt Ryan, we've got our (Joe) Flacco, we've got our (Mark) Sanchez right here. But because of the uncertainty of the offseason, it's just hard to determine exactly how you want to approach it. So, we need a little more clarity on what this offseason's going to be like."

And that's the biggest difference; we're in the middle of a lockout, which means no OTAs or minicamps.

Wobschall does say that "if the Vikings bring in a veteran QB yet this offseason, that veteran could end up starting games early in the season, but ultimately I think the Vikings are going to push hard for either Ponder or Webb to end up starting the most games."

For now we're just waiting for the owners and players to agree on a new CBA.

We mentioned a few days ago in Hot Routes that the Vikings didn’t offer a tender to QB Tarvaris Jackson, because the coaching staff apparently was satisfied with the play of second-year player Joe Webb and was willing to let Jackson walk away.

Well, that might not totally be the case.

In a little snippet in this St. Paul Pioneer Press notebook, Charley Walters writes that a source told him Minnesota considered trading for Broncos QB Kyle Orton but then “backed off.” The original idea came because, the newspaper explains, Webb is “nowhere close to being an effective starter.”

You’ll recall that we saw a little bit of Webb last season, and he was up and down. But he showed potential* as well – which, honestly, is more than Jackson has shown in a Minnesota uniform – and though it seemed clear he wasn’t immediately ready to jump into Brett Favre’s position, you could see that Webb has talent and could eventually grow into an effective starter.

*In fact, I wrote in December that Webb, playing against Philadelphia, showed he belonged in the conversation, because of his poise and multi-dimensional skills under center. In fact, this is what coach Leslie Frazier had to say after Webb led the Vikings to an upset of the Eagles: “It'd be hard for me to say that I knew that Joe would play at such a high level so consistently.”

So, yeah, it’s hard to figure how the coaching staff views Webb since we’re receiving such contrasting messages. Some say the coaches like him, some say they think he’s not ready.

Trying to trade for Orton would make sense on some levels for the Vikings. Even if he was nothing more than a one-year stopgap until Webb really is ready, Orton could have contributed to Webb’s growth as a quarterback (remember, Webb was expected to be a WR after Minnesota drafted him in the sixth round in 2010, and it was surprising that he beat out Sage Rosenfels for the third QB spot at the beginning of last season).

But since that trade for Orton didn’t work out, the Vikings staff will have to figure out what to do about Webb. Considering his backups would be Patrick Ramsey and/or Rhett Bomar, maybe Webb is the guy right now, whether or not he actually IS ready.

If you’re bored (and it IS noon on a Friday afternoon, after all) and you need to kill time while waiting to see what happens with the labor negotiations, Foxsports.com has the drinking game for you. If you participate, though, you’ll probably have to hit up the local liquor store. Unless you’re the kind of person who has both Cristal AND Schlitz at your home. In which case, you’re kind of awesome.

An interesting look by Yahoo! Sports’ Dan Wetzel at one of the most important power players in the labor negotiations: Judge David Doty.

I’m sorry, this has nothing to do with football, but man, it’s always awesome watching a baby hysterically laugh uncontrollably. And if the labor negotiations go bad today, you can keep replaying this video. It will make you feel better. Seriously, this video is the best thing I’ve seen all week.

Brett Favre is officially out for the Vikings' regular season finale, meaning he's likely played his last game in the NFL, barring an unexpected retirement (which would not be that unexpected I suppose).

In Favre's place, Joe Webb, who looked good last week, will start for the Vikings.